Meaning & Origins

U.S.: of uncertain origin. It is hardly likely to be from the modern English vocabulary word, which has both feminine and pejorative connotations. It probably represents a transferred use of the surname Coy or perhaps McCoy, a variant of McKay, meaning ‘son of Aodh’.

English: habitational name from any of the many places, large and small, called Bradford; in particular the city in West Yorkshire, which originally rose to prosperity as a wool town. There are others in Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Greater Manchester, Norfolk, Somerset, and elsewhere. They are all named with Old English brād ‘broad’ + ford ‘ford’.